Could Your Symptoms Be Prostate Cancer? 11 Signs You Might Have Prostate Problems

Prostate cancer often has not symptoms in the early stages, and those that do appear early — namely problems with urination — can mimic those caused by benign conditions associated with aging. What should you be on the look out for?

Problems with urination are among the common symptoms of prostate cancer.

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Let’s face it: Many of us put off seeing a doctor until things get worrisome. But for your own good and for the sake of the people you love, it’s important to take charge of your health. And knowing about prostate problems should be high on your priority list.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men (excluding skin cancer), and the second leading cause of cancer death. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 161,000 American men were diagnosed in 2017; it was the cause of nearly 27,000 deaths that year. (1)

What Are Early Signs of Prostate Cancer?

Here are the main symptoms of prostate cancer:

Frequent urination

Other urinary difficulties

Painful ejaculation

Blood in the urine or semen

Pain or stiffness in the hips, lower back or upper thighs

But a man may not experience any of these symptoms and still have prostate cancer.

After Diagnosis

For many men, the first sign of prostate problems involves urination changes.

“Some men may begin to notice increased frequency, slowing of their stream, and getting up at night to empty their bladder,” says Dr. Chodak.

Urinary troubles can often signal a noncancerous gland enlargement, which is called benign prostatic hyperplasia, a condition that is common in men over 40. “Virtually every guy over 70 has some prostatic enlargement,” says Edward Geehr, MD, the chief medical officer of ILinkMD Corporation.

Still, any urination changes — including pain, weak flow, difficulty starting or stopping, frequent nighttime urination or blood in the urine or semen — should be evaluated by a doctor.

People With These Characteristics Should Pay More Attention to Symptoms

Some populations should take potential symptoms more seriously, because they’re at higher risk for the disease. These include:

1. Advanced age The older a man is, the greater his chances of developing prostate cancer. In fact, if a man lives long enough, the odds are very good that he will develop the disease. Cancer can be diagnosed, however, at much younger ages — even at age 28. And men in their 20s and 30s tend to have more aggressive forms of the disease. (2)

2. African-American descent Medical experts aren’t sure why, but African-American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer incidence in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. What’s more, they are also more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage and are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer as white men. (3) On the other hand, according to the American Cancer Society, rates of death from prostate cancer have declined faster among black men than they have in white men. (4)

3. Family history Prostate problems tend to run in families. A man who has one first-degree relative (meaning a father or brother) with prostate cancer has more than twice the average risk of developing the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. (5) That risk increases if more than two first-degree relatives had it. In addition, a man’s risk is increased if two first-degree relatives were diagnosed before age 55. Men in families known to carry one of the BRCA genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) are also at higher risk for prostate cancer. (6)

4. Weight While being overweight or obese does not raise a person’s overall risk of developing prostate cancer, researchers think that it may raise the risk of being diagnosed with a more advanced and aggressive form of the disease. According to a study published in the December 2013 issue of the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, obese men had more aggressive and more advanced cancer at the time of surgery than those who weren’t obese. (7)

About 1 in 10 cases of these kinds of cancers are related to carrying excess body fat. Experts think that too much body fat may increase the body’s production of insulin which acts as a growth factor for cancers. (8,9)

5. High-fat diet Men who eat a large amount of red meat or high-fat dairy products appear to have a slightly higher chance of developing prostate cancer, the American Cancer Society reports. (10)

The way the meat is cooked may also increase your risk of prostate problems, according to a study published in November 2012 in Carcinogenesis by researchers at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. (11)

The researchers found that men who ate more than 2.5 weekly servings of red meat cooked at high temperatures were 40 percent more likely to have advanced prostate cancer than men who ate less than that amount. (12)

Parker AS, Thiel DD, et al. Obese Men Have More Advanced and More Aggressive Prostate Cancer at Time Surgery Than Non-Obese Men After Adjusting for Screening PSA Level and Age: Results From Two Independent Nested Case-Control Studies. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. August 20, 2013.